Atoms and Choice: Strategies for Mass Customization

Tracing Camera

I developed Tracing Camera for The Exploratorium’s Observatory Gallery. It is a tool to help users study the surrounding landscape through observation and drawing. When a piece of tracing paper is placed on the camera’s upper acrylic window a projection of the camera’s view is visible and can be traced allowing the user to record their observations.

Only Knife

The Only Knife represents a re-framing of a knife, zester, peeler and garnisher that would traditionally be separate items used in a bar setting. By abstracting these tool forms and adding a colorful rubber handle this product aims to make this multi-tool more approachable and desirable than the kit from which it was derived.

After sketching and modeling I finalized the knife’s profile and created a CAD model. I had the blades cut from 304 stainless steel at a local industrial laser cutter. In this same CAD model I built the rubber handles onto the original profile and created two mold models which were then 3d printed. After polishing and sharpening the steel blanks I used the molds to press Sugru, a type of air setting mold-able silicone putty onto the blades. When the rubber cured the flash was trimmed to produce a finished knife.

BL1

This pendant light consists of a blow molded acrylic shell with a LED edge lit panel suspended between the two indented wooden slot covers. The lamp body was blown out of an acrylic tube in a CNCed MDF mold after being heated in a convection oven. This blank was then trimmed to create the final lamp form.

Alidade

Alidade is an exhibit in the Exploratorium’s Observatory Gallery. It functions as a sort of mechanical augmented reality device, relating points on a circular map to their actual locations in the visible skyline. By rotating the sights around the map platen, the line of sight and relative distance is indicated on the ruler between the sights.

Points of interest are marked on the map with their initials in the rear sight, which correspond to additional information in an accompanying book. Color coded districts are also noted on the map, as well as in profile to help inform the user how far away buildings are from the observation point.

Graffiti Projector

This object was made to facilitate non-destructive light graffiti. With that goal in mind, the technical aim of the project was to make the largest clearest image for the least cost, so the projectors could be planted and left to broadcast their message. The resulting object made out of mostly repurposed materials cost about $8, $4 of which accounts for the batteries. The projectors which can run for about 4 days, produces a 2ft image at about 6ft from a surface and is clearly visible under standard street lighting.

Stacking Dining Set

This project was made in collaboration with Lifetime Brands who specializes in ceramic goods design. The final design and product was a result of in store research on current offerings, top sellers, associated demographics and research on how younger demographics use tableware. The conclusion of this research highlighted the increasing obsolescence of formal tableware and the consumer’s tendency to choose stylized, but simple utilitarian forms. The resulting product can both nest for storage and stack for easy transportation of an entire meal. The initial forms were made of turned wood and clay. The positive forms were then cast in multi-part plaster molds. The resulting molds were then filled with slip and emptied to produce multipledining sets.

Rangefinder

This was a “Works Like” prototype for the Exploratorium’s Observatory Gallery designed to measure the distance from the museum to passing ships in order to map the shipping channels in the San Francisco Bay. This model was based on a combination of several designs I found in WWI era artillery manuals, but re-imagined in modern extruded aluminum and Delrin.

The device is essentially a telescope that splits the user’s view into two perspectives. By sliding the prism carriage in order to align the red and blue images a right triangle is formed between the ends of the device and the distant object. As the Rangefinder’s length is known, sliding the prism carriage is proportional to the angle of the second viewpoint, so the distance can be accurately related to the position of the prism carriage and attached range ruler.

Airship Concept

I developed an aerodynamic hull as well as vehicle / support system concepts and assisted in technical due diligence for this Google X investigation.

Camera Ring

This Pinhole Camera Ring was a commissioned piece for Pipo Nguyen-Duy made with the generous help of Abrasha (a San Francisco Goldsmith) who did the final assembly of the silver case and provided technical support throughout the building process. The camera is fully functional and can produce a single .75'' paper negative. When worn on the forefinger, the shutter made from a dime is easily actuated with the thumb.

Vertical Farming Research

I generated concept solutions, as well as assisted in market and technical research for this Google X Investigation.

Prayer Wheel

This device came out of a collaboration with Jisho Roche Adachi at The Exploratorium. It is a small and simple platform for short animations in the form of a Stroboscopic Prayer Wheel. The basic structure of the prayer wheel consists of an acrylic tube with laser cut plywood end caps. The end caps contain bearings which allow it to spin freely while the handle and central post with strobe circuitry remain stationary. By taping different paper strips with an eight image series onto the device, an animation can be created when the body of the wheel is rotated.

The guts of the wheel are a 555 timer based control circuit and three LEDs with ping pong ball diffusers mounted above the control plate. The control circuit has a reed switch which is triggered by a series of eight magnets embedded in the lower end cap. A weight consisting of washers and felt disks to prevent damage to the acrylic were added, making it possible to spin the wheel by tipping your wrist slightly similar to a traditional Tibetan Prayer Wheel.

Retroscope

I developed the Retroscope for a project put on by Harrell Fletcher at The Exploratorium called "The Best Things in Museums Are the Windows" which involved walking through the Bay Area landscape.

Working with my colleague Meg Escudé at The Exploratorium and the Western Railway Museum we collected images of historic streetcars in Oakland and Emeryville California. Using the Retroscope, which is essentially an Ipad based heads up display, walk participants were then able to overlay historic images over modern reality and trace the long gone tracks through the landscape.